FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BEARS - PAGE 2

The Bears' rookies have some big shoes to fill. With training camp only three weeks away, new coach Marc Trestman will have a lot of tough decisions as he tries to lead the Bears to the playoffs. Brian Urlacher's departure, rebuilding the offensive line, reviving an aging defense and protecting Jay Cutler will require the Bears to make considerable use of young talent. Of the 18 rookies currently on the roster, only a few will make the final, 53-man roster. Here are three who could make the biggest impact this season: Jon Bostic, linebacker With Brian Urlacher's retirement, the Bears need someone to man the middle linebacker position he held for more than a decade.

The number of Bears who have missed entire games this season gets scarier each week. Jay Cutler, Shea McClellin and Earl Bennett are on that list, and they may at least hope to play next week. Among the Bears who are done for the year or whose status is in doubt, we ranked them on our worry scale from 1 (they can get by) to 4 (prepare for disaster). - Tribune contributed Lance Louis, OL (knee) The offensive line is thin as it is, and Cutler's health is shaky at best.

My heart hurts. The Bears hurt my heart. Late Saturday, three friends, including G the Vikings Fan, cornered me at a party and asked how worried I was on a 1 to 10 scale about the Packers. I thought deeply and said, "About a six. " They were shocked, but I explained. "Consider me a firefighter charging into a burning house. Flames have been raging since long before I even arrived. The scene is bleak. "But I'm a professional. I'm not going to storm a house while lamenting, 'Good god, I'm running into a death trap!

NFL linemen are often nicknamed “buffet bashers.” With reason. These guys are as tall as NBA power forwards and weigh as much as a Mack truck. Have you ever thought about what it takes to keep the entire Bears team fed and fueled during training camp? It's a daunting task. These not-so-gentle giants and their semi-smaller teammates depart Wednesday for Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais to begin training camp. Plenty of sweltering two-a-day practices, conditioning drills and lifts lay ahead.

Sure, several key Bears were injured last week. But there were still upbeat entering Sunday. They simply had to deal with Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch and a Seattle team that had beaten them the past two regular-season meetings at Soldier Field. However, when the dust settled, the Seahawks emerged with a 23-17 overtime win, relegating the Bears to a first-place tie with Green Bay. Who played like a beast and who ended up a bust? BEAST Sidney Rice The former Minnesota Viking hauled in one clutch catch after another, including the game-winning touchdown in overtime.

Patrick Mannelly is a 6-foot-5-inch, 15-year NFL veteran who has seen it all. Yet ask the Bears long snapper to pick one offensive teammate he is most excited to watch, and he starts giggling like a 5-foot-6-inch Bears junkie who spends Sundays on a couch with a beer and a laptop, just like the rest of us. "That's easy," he says immediately. "Brandon Marshall. " Mannelly is a massive man - if you were at a restaurant and he walked in, all heads would turn. Except, of course, if Marshall had walked in 10 minutes earlier.

I blame you and I blame me, but more on that in a minute. The Bears have been exposed and you knew it was coming. Aging defense, lame offense. Thank you, Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers. Thank you for showing us who we are. Nice to see a team (theirs, not ours) can just plug in their second-round draft pick from Nevada (Nevada?) as a backup and keep humming along. Us? Yeah, we plug in a supposed "veteran" and it's like he's never seen the field before. Again, thank you for clarity.

There's a ton of optimism attached to the NFL Draft, regardless of the situation your favorite team is in. Whether that translates into success on the field is another story. For example, the Bears - under both Mark Hatley and Jerry Angelo at general manager - seemed to botch one draft after another. Some have even questioned the choices current GM Phil Emery made in the 2012 draft: > > Defensive end Shea McClellin is coming along but is not developing as fast as some would hope.

Charles Tillman came to the Bears in the 2003 draft as a relative unknown. Nine years later he is a Pro Bowl cornerback, special teams ace, fan favorite and fumble-forcing master. RedEye spoke with him about his first opening day, his 10th opening day and everything in between. Charles Tillman: I didn't have any idea what team was going to draft me, or even if I was going to get drafted. But the Bears picked me up. I knew about the '85 Bears a little bit, but as far as the history, the titles, George Halas, things like that, I didn't know anything about it. [Vice president of communications]

In case you missed it, Bears minicamp wrapped up Thursday. And although the season's still a few months away, there were a few things to take from the three-day warm-up before the team reports to training camp in Bourbonnais on July 24. Tribune contributed Not everyone's 100 percent … yet Some players are still licking their wounds. Wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, the team's second-round draft pick, missed the first day of minicamp with a lower leg injury, returned to the field Wednesday and sat out again Thursday.